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Eurovision Song Contest 2012
İTV | venue = TBD in January 2012, Baku, Azerbaijan | entries = 40 (to date) | debut = | return = | withdraw = | null = | interval = | opening = | map = ESC 2012 Map.svg | col1 = #782167 | tag1 = Confirmed countries | col2 = #22b14c | tag2 = Confirmed participants that have selected their entrant and/or song | col3 = #FFC20E | tag3 = Countries that participated in the past but will not in 2012 | | | }} The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 will be the 57th annual Eurovision Song Contest. It will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, following Azerbaijan's win in the 2011 Contest with Ell & Nikki's song "Running Scared". The two semi-finals will be held on 22 May and 24 May 2012, with the final on 26 May 2012, in Azerbaijan. Forty countries have, so far, announced their participation in the contest, with Montenegro returning, having last taken part in 2009. Venue On 16 May 2011, it was announced that a special concert complex with 23,000 seats for the 2012 Contest is to be built near National Flag Square in Baku. However on 19 May 2011, organisers announced that they may use the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium which contains 37,000 seats, or the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex. On 4 August 2011, it was confirmed that the laying of foundations for the Baku Crystal Hall had started near the National Flag Square. The foundations were completed on 14 October 2011. Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, which is currently under repairs to host the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in September-October 2012, will be used as a back-up option. On 8 September 2011, Azad TV International of Azerbaijan reported that Baku Crystal Hall will be the venue of Eurovision Song Contest 2012, although no formal confirmation by the organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has yet been made to clarify this statement. On 31 October 2011, Mr. Ismayil Omarov, the director general of Azerbaijani national broadcaster İctimai Television announced that a decision on the venue choice will be taken by the steering committee in January 2012. Event concept and ticket sale On 10 August 2011, Gudrat Aliyev, coordinator at CAT Brain Entertainment, stated tickets for the event were likely to go on sale in November 2011. Role of the national host broadcaster İctimai Television, which is the EBU member that broadcasts the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan, is one of country's public-service broadcasters. Deputy Minister of Communication and Information Technology of Azerbaijan, Iltimas Mammadov, stated that telecom networks are ready to host this event. Azerbaijan's largest telecommunications operator, Azercell, has been chosen as the presenting partner for the contest. Format In a meeting of the Eurovision Reference Group on 29 June 2011, it was decided that the televoting system would revert back to the format used before the 2010 Contest in which the phone and SMS lines will open after all songs have been performed instead of opening before the show starts. The results format of each show will remain the same with each country's votes being decided on a 50:50 split between televoting and a national jury. Under the official rules released on 24 November 2011, the number of participants in the final will be raised to 26, including the host nation, the "Big Five", and the ten qualifiers from each semi-final. This will be the second time in the Eurovision Song Contest that 26 countries will be in the final, the first being the 2003 Contest. Participating countries Forty countries have confirmed their participation in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. Montenegro's broadcaster Radio Televizija Crna Gora (RTCG) has reported that they will return to the contest in 2012, which last participated in 2009. On 19 October 2011, Andorra announced that there are no plans for the country to participate in 2012 due to financial difficulties; the country also has plans to withdraw from the EBU entirely. On 24 November 2011, it was reported that the Czech Republic would not compete in the 2012 Contest, following the release of a television schedule by Česká televize (ČT). It had been reported on 23 November 2011, that at an European Broadcasting Union (EBU) meeting in Geneva, that Monaco was considering a return to the 2012 contest. However on 3 December 2011, Phil Bosco, a former head of delegation told a French-speaking website that the Monaguesque national broadcaster TMC doesn't intend to return to the Eurovision Song Contest any time in the near future, as there is no financial budget available. Semi-finalists Finalists Possible returns * – In an interview with the French delegation it was revealed that Morocco were "likely to return" to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012. Reports about the proposed return of Morocco to the contest, after an absence of 30 years, were further enhanced at an EBU meeting in Geneva. Possible withdrawals * – Participation remains uncertain as the special security required by the Armenian delegation has not yet been guaranteed by the EBU. * – Due to a run of poor results, Poland may not be present in the 2012 Contest. The Polish delegation were expected to make a decision about participation in November 2011. However, no information about participation has yet been announced. * - On 16 November 2011 it was announced by Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska (RTVS) that Miro Šmajda had been selected internally to represent Slovakia at the 2012 Contest in Baku, funding his own participation at the event. However by 18 November the Slovak participation was in doubt after a "misunderstanding" between RTVS and Šmajda's management, with some terms of the contract still needing to be discussed. Returning artists References External links * Category:Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Category:2012 in Azerbaijan